No Surprises
by anneelizabeth
Summary: It's Rose's wedding day. Will Scorpius try to stop her? Does she even want him to? Rated T for some swearing. One-Shot.


"Don't marry him," he said, his eyes anguished. "I can't-you don't know how much I-"

"Stop," I answered, looking straight at him. "You don't really mean this."

"What?" he exclaimed passionately. "Rose, I'm in love with you. Can't you understand that?"

I sighed. "You aren't, Scorpius. Not really." Seeing that he was about to interrupt, I added quickly, "You just can't stand knowing that I won't always be yours anymore. That I won't be there every time you need me. That I won't be so…available to you. That I won't always be your back-up plan."

He stared at me, stricken. He opened his mouth but nothing came out.

Seeing this, I continued. "And if you think I'm going to leave Stefano just because of a half-ass love 'confession,' you don't understand how much I love him. You underestimate me. I wouldn't marry him if I wasn't sure, Scorp. I wouldn't be standing here, in a white dress, ready to spend the rest of my life with him, if I had even the tiniest iota of doubt. And if you know me as well as you claim you do, you should know that."

"Rose," he finally said, his voice breaking just a little. "I know it took me a while-years-to realize what I have with you…that what we have is something I can't even…"

_Not good enough. _

"Maybe it shouldn't have taken that long, Scorpius," I said, my voice low. "And I realized that, years ago. That part of my life, my questioning, my doubting, my wondering, if we WERE meant for something more is over. I found my answer long ago."

And I did. We were, in essence, the best of friends, though we rarely-if ever-acknowledged it. Sometimes, you just find someone who _gets _you. Someone who doesn't have to understand you or agree with everything you say, but who accepts you and doesn't judge you. Someone who calls your bullshit, someone who tells you when you're acting like an entitled ass, someone who is not afraid to tell you you were wrong. Someone who you can talk to about anything-Quidditch, Aquinas, Bokononism, Blast-Ended Skrewts, even muggle bands like The Strokes. Someone who you can call at 3 pm on a nice Thursday afternoon because you feel like drinking wine and talking about nothing and everything.

And I guess that was what made me think about him in that way. That maybe, I would never find someone I got along with as well as I did with him. That I would compare all my dates to our random hangouts on top of the astronomy tower, drinking firewhiskey and smoking whatever we could find. That I would compare what we had to whatever connection I tried having with someone else.

But we put all my questions to rest. He wasn't physically attracted to me. I understood that. I wasn't physically attracted to him either. He wasn't ugly by any means and neither was I. We just didn't have physical chemistry, if there's such a thing. If there was anything lacking in our relationship, it was attraction to each other. We just weren't into each other that way.

But for me, I guess that emotional connection, that compatibility, was enough to make me think that maybe, it could turn into something.

Needless to say, it didn't.

I'm not bitter about it. I was glad we tried, and I was kind of relieved that it didn't work out. At least we wouldn't be wondering _what if _all our lives.

Until now.

I see his desperation as I look at him and I realize, that more than anything, he was afraid of losing the only relationship he ever really felt sure about. The only relationship he counted on as being always there.

"I'm still here, Scorp," I say, putting my hand on his arm and squeezing it-something I've always done to show that I meant what I said. "If you need to talk, smoke, drink or even just sit and stare into space together, I promise to always be game." I grinned. "You can still pull your drinking card."

At my mention of this, he gives me a small smile. "Remember when you made out with Stefano and felt so guilty that you called me out of my healing training by using that you-can't-say-no card?"

I smile fondly. "We've both used those cards a lot," I say good-naturedly. "Aren't you glad we thought them up? Merlin knows, we'd probably have gone crazy."

"Or our livers, not to mention our lungs, would be a lot healthier," he pointed out.

I laughed. "I don't regret it."

He made a sudden move. "Rose," he said, his eyes dark and his face set. "I can't let you go. I can't." And suddenly, he was kissing me, desperately, intensely, forcefully.

And I felt nothing.

It felt wrong and all kinds of weird. I pulled away. "Scorpius."

He looked at me, hurt written all over his face. "No?" his question was simple, but his eyes spoke volumes. He locked eyes with me and spoke, his voice harsh. "You didn't feel anything? No fireworks? No nothing?" He gave a bitter laugh.

I couldn't look at him. I didn't want to see his face. "Nothing," I whispered softly, fidgeting with my dress.

He grabbed my hand. "Drinking card. Now."

I was flabbergasted. "I am getting married in 30 minutes!"

He dropped it. "You're right. As usual," he said. "I guess I just feel as if I'm losing the-fuck this, Rose, you're the most important thing in my life. I don't want to lose you."

I leaned over and hugged him. "Want to pull your smoking card instead?"

He smiled at me and kissed my forehead. "Got a light?"

Fifteen minutes later and two cigarettes later, I married Stefano.

No regrets.


End file.
